When You Wisch Upon a Star

Multi-line reps could very well be the unsung heroes of our industry. They are true road warriors, often spending cash right out of their own pockets to bring distributors new ideas and creative solutions with shiny logos all over them. And if you just ask, most will do free specs and virtuals and self-promo for you. Multi-line reps are super heroes.

Nowell Wisch is a veteran multi-line rep in California and other points west. He's been with TradeNet for over 20 years and has quite a few other great lines, such as Caro-line—the bandana people. He also volunteers as a photographer for SAAC, superbly so.

I love that guy because Nowell is Bold, Different and Memorable. Extremely Memorable.

One year at the SAAC Show, I saw him in the Trade Net booth and asked him how the show was going for him. He said, "Fantastic, I have made 90 scans today!" I looked at him funny. Just 90 scans? At the big, bad SAAC Show? I asked why that was fantastic, when other exhibitors had eight hundred and one thousand scans or more.

"Because," Nowell explained, "when someone walks up to my booth and asks me to scan their badge, hardly making eye contact with one foot out in the aisle toward the NEXT booth, where they'll ask to be scanned, I ask them if I have their permission to ask them a question before I scan them. Many of them just stand there, one hand on their badge, frozen like a deer in the headlights. Some just leave right then, but most give me the okay to ask the question. So I tell them that my question is, if they would give me just five minutes of their time to talk about their customers and some current challenges they might be facing, wouldn't that be more valuable than just scanning their badge? What if we have a meaningful interaction where I arm you with tools to sell promotional products during this short five minutes? Wouldn't you agree that was well worth your time?" Then, he would lose several more people. But maybe one person out of ten would agree that Nowell was right ... and then give him those five minutes. These are the people he scanned. Every one of those 90 people were ENGAGED and COMMITED to promotional success. For Nowell, those 90 were GOLD, even though he may have shocked 900 to find them!